Australia faces an employee engagement crisis - what can be done?

06 March 2019

An engaged workforce is the key to a successful business - but engagement is hard to come by in Australia these days. How can you motivate people better?

It's far easier to run a profitable business when you have employees who are engaged with their work. Engagement leads to high levels of productivity, and with productivity comes the potential to sell high volumes and bring in big revenues. It all starts with having people on board who truly care about what they do.

"People are still showing up to the office and plugging away at their jobs from 9 to 5, but the vast majority of them are disengaged."

Sadly, not enough employees fall into that category today, either in Australia or elsewhere. People are still showing up to the office and plugging away at their jobs from 9 to 5, but the vast majority of them are disengaged and don't have a passion for producing high-quality work.

If you're a manager in today's business world, you should have every reason to combat this problem and better motivate your staff. But how?

Australia faces an engagement crisis

If you're perplexed by the question of how to motivate employees, you're absolutely not alone. New research from Gallup reveals that we're facing an employee engagement crisis in Australia. Only 24 per cent of the nation's employees say they are engaged with their work, and that figure has not moved upwards in over a decade.

School of Thinking notes that often, the problem companies have is a lack of initiative to improve engagement. They're conducting surveys and measuring it, but mere measurement doesn't actually do anything to fix the problem. The challenge lies in going one step further and taking action.

Taking action to improve the situation

So what will actually make a difference on the engagement front? Recent analysis from Robert Half suggested that honest and open communication between employees and their bosses is a big step. If the two sides are able to come together and listen to each other's perspectives with empathy, they can work toward common goals.

"If you have bosses who are willing to listen to their employees, that should help engagement."

Another key step is implementing programs for employee rewards and recognition. Rewarding your employees for a job well done is often affordable and well worth the expense.

Implement programs that will make a difference

To really get your employees back on the fast track to being engaged and proud of their work, your leadership should really consider the power of performance-based employee rewards. At Power2Motivate, we offer customisable programs that allow your employees to choose the rewards they value most.

Our points-based program comes via an online portal that's easy to access and manage; the process of getting started is simple and seamless. Contact us today and find out how you can begin.

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